Operation “Bright Sword” Disrupts Counterfeiters

April 14, 2011

Chinese police have seized 14,185 suspects since November, 2010, in a campaign to halt the trade in counterfeit goods, including software, food, drugs, and luggage.

The Ministry of Public Security announced April 12, 2011, that the suspects were involved in more than 8,000 investigations into counterfeiting and 7,000 production and sales outlets, reported China Daily.

“Manufacturing and selling of the counterfeit goods not only seriously violated the legitimate rights of the enterprises and consumers, but also posed a great threat to people’s health and disrupted the market,” said Gao Feng, Deputy Director of the Ministry’s Economic Crime Investigation Department.

Police detained 96 people allegedly involved in the production and sale of clenbuterol and confiscated over 400 kilograms of the diet drug used legitimately with a doctor’s prescription as a decongestant and bronchodilator in people. However, the black market has sold the drug as a diet pill and a performance enhancer.

Chinese authorities did not acknowledge this use of the drug, but said it was being used in pig feed and that it was poisonous to people. In 2006 over 330 people in Shanghai were reported to have been poisoned by eating pork contaminated by clenbuterol that had been fed to the animals to keep their meat lean and in 2009, at least 70 people in Guangdong were ill after eating pork believed to contain clenbuterol residue.